


Kernels

by voidEnthusiast



Category: Homestuck, Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Case 53, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:41:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25323310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voidEnthusiast/pseuds/voidEnthusiast
Summary: Wormverse AU. Case-53 Vriska gets taken in by the Protectorate. John, a Ward, decides to make friends over microwave popcorn.
Relationships: John Egbert/Vriska Serket
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22





	Kernels

**Author's Note:**

> For Homestucks who haven't read Worm yet, ‘cape’ is a blanket term for anyone with superpowers.

You first see the new cape on a Tuesday. By Thursday, your curiosity gets the better of you, and you decide to get to know her more.

She’s kept to herself over the past few days. That’s understandable- if you were in her place, with whatever happened to make her look like... _that_ , you would probably avoid other people too. You manage to find her relatively quickly, though.

“Hey,” you begin. “I was just about to make a snack-” you rustle the popcorn bag- “and I was wondering if you’d like some?”

“Yes, I’ll try it,” she says. Her voice is strangely accented, a bit more guttural than you had expected. You lead her over into the Wards’ little communal kitchen. This is where Dave stores his unending supply of Spicy Doritos, but your focus right now is on the microwave. 

The mutant cape grabs the packet out of your hand. “What’s in here? Are we eating those little kernels?” she asks.

You grin and take it back. “No, no, this is popcorn.”

“What’s that?”

Taken aback for a moment, you turn away from the microwave to face her. “You’ve never heard of  _ popcorn? _ No way!” 

She looks away, mumbling, “I’ve never heard of half the things anyone here talks about.” And now, predictably, you feel horrible. You already knew that she’d lost most of her memories, but you just forgot about it in the heat of the moment.

There is still a chance to salvage the situation, of course.

“I’ll teach you about it!” you proclaim dramatically.

“I’d like that,” she says, laughing.

“These corn kernels are just the precursor to popcorn. To get to that point, you need to heat them up slowly. A microwave works well for that.” You gesture to the object in question.

You place the packet in there, then gently swing the door shut and tap in  _02:30_ on the machine’s keypad. “While it warms up, the water trapped inside the kernels gets hotter and bursts into steam. That turns them inside out and kind of puffs them up. It makes a little pop sound each time one of them does this- hence, 'pop' corn.”

The buzzing of the microwave is interrupted by one pop, then another. You grin excitedly at the girl (whose name you still don’t know), but her expression is... strange.

Her claws are outstretched, digging divots into the wooden table. Each pop from the microwave brings a nervous twitch, and her whole body slowly tenses up more and more. 

“Hey, are you alr-”

“I’m FINE.” She looks decidedly not fine. You hope you haven’t ruined the conversation a second time.

When two and a half minutes have passed, you take the steaming bag out of the microwave and pour its contents into a bowl. She relaxes a bit, but the panicked look doesn’t leave her eyes.

You put half the popcorn into a new bowl and set it down in front of her. “You’re supposed to eat them one at a time, but I like taking whole handfuls,” you ramble.

Hesitantly, carefully, she holds a big one between two claws and pops it into her mouth. Her jaw moves unusually as she chews- probably due to those pointed teeth, you guess.

A sudden smile plays across her face. The unexplained tension from earlier is all gone. 

You each eat the rest of your popcorn in silence. It’s a lot better than you remember this brand being. Maybe the sweetness of friendship completes the taste.

Walking back into the central room, something springs to mind. “What’s your name? I didn’t catch it earlier.”

She looks absolutely miserable. Well, you know what they say- third egregious social blunder’s the charm. “I don’t remember what I’m called,” she mumbles.

Ah.

“The heroes have been referring to me as Anansi, after some spider from an ancient story, but that’s not  _ me. _ ” She hesitates. “My real name is sort of... blocked off? It’s like it’s on the very tip of my tongue, but I-”

She cuts herself off with an expression of excitement and relief. “That’s it! Vriska! My name is Vriska! I can finally remember something!” 

“Well,” you respond, “nice to meet you, Vriska.”


End file.
